Toni L. P. Kelner - Blast from the Past (A Where Are They Now? Mystery)

Table of Contents

PRAISE FOR THE WHERE ARE THEY NOW? MYSTERY SERIES

Who Killed the Pinup Queen?

A fast-paced read that fans of television nostalgia will quickly add to their must-read lists.

The Mystery Reader

Fascinating. Readers will root for the admirable heroine and seek her previous Where Are They Now? investigation, Curse of the Kissing Cousins .

Genre Go Round Reviews

Interesting foray into the world of pinups and television westerns. Recommended.

I Love a Mystery

First class! Not only a solid mystery, but an interesting look at old-time television and pop culture. Two thumbs up!

Mystery Heel

Enjoyable.

Over My Dead Body

This series is a must for anyone with a love of popular culture, especially of days gone by.

Seattle Mystery Bookshop Blog

Curse of the Kissing Cousins

An engaging premise and an engaging heroine make Curse of the Kissing Cousins one of the pleasure reads of the year.

Charlaine Harris

A merry chase through cyberspace and stacks of dusty magazines, adding in a little romance to keep things humming.

Publishers Weekly

Sassy... Laced with Hollywood tidbits that may please trivia fans.

Kirkus Reviews

A well-written thriller. Secondary characters add zest to the story. Author Toni Kelner has taken a page from her heroine, Tilda; she delivers the goods. I look forward to reading more adventures of Tilda Harper, and so will you.

Romance Reviews Today

Berkley Prime Crime titles by Toni L. P. Kelner

CURSE OF THE KISSING COUSINS
WHO KILLED THE PINUP QUEEN?
BLAST FROM THE PAST

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
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South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / February 2011

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form with-
out permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of
the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

eISBN : 978-1-101-47701-4

BERKLEY PRIME CRIME
Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the PRIME CRIME logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

http://us.penguingroup.com

To Valerie Dare Kelner: I expected having two kids to be twice as good as having one, but somehow Valerie quadrupled the fun.

acknowledgments

I want to thank:

Stephen P. Kelner, Jr., who reads drafts while on planes to far-away lands.

Charlaine Harris and Dana Cameron, who take time away from their own work to help with mine.

My daughters, Maggie and Valerie, for their patience.

Joan Brandt, who got me this far.

Joni Langervoort, who donated actual money to charity so I would name a character after her.

Jerry Frazee, creator of Nazrat , for sharing his experiences in the world of comic books.

Chapter 1

flash-forward n Simply put, the opposite of flashback; a filmic technique that depicts a scene, event, or shot taking place (or imagined) or expected that is projected into a future time beyond the present time of the film, or it can be a flash-forward from the past to the present.TIM DIRKS, WWW.FILMSITE.ORG

IT was a perfect night for romance. The moon was full, the temperature cool enough to make hand-holding desirable, and the only sounds were seabirds calling and the lap of the ocean waves. All that was missing was for Dylan OTaine to leave the sanctuary of Pharos, his mystic lighthouse, to share some of his magic.

Unfortunately, Tilda was alone except for a cell phone, and though she was talking to a man, he was quite happily married.

The man in question, Tildas friend Cooper, asked, How much longer are you going to be on the Cape?

As long as I can get away with. Did I tell you what Dianne brought home last week? A snake! Dianne was Tildas latest roommate.

Dont tell me you have a snake phobia. Do you know how Freudian that is?

Of course I know. My sister is a psychologist. But I dont have a snake phobia. As pets go, snakes arent too bad. Except that she put it in the living room, and she was going to feed it in there.

Im guessing that it doesnt eat Purina Snake Chow.

Try mice. Cute little white mice who squeal when the snake starts swallowing them.

That is gross. You have terrible luck in roommates.

Tell me about it. Tilda was apparently incapable of finding a roomie she could put up with for longer than a year. Only three months into the lease with Dianne and she was already poised to toss the woman and her never-ending pet parade into the street. It made the Cape Cod stay, even without a nice bit of arm candy to walk with in the moonlight, all the more enjoyable.

Gotta head out, Cooper said. Let me know how its going.

Will do. She hung up the phone, and once shed put it into her pocket, realized she could hear voices. Up ahead, she saw two people walking along the other side of the road, probably heading for the building where shed just had dinner.

The Glenham Bars Inn was on Shoreline Road, the unimaginatively named seaside road in the town of Glenham. The main inn building and cottages of varying sizes and levels of luxury were scattered on both sides of the road. With lights strung in the trees, it looked like a nicer brand of carnival, though the brochure described it as a fairy-tale setting.

From behind, Tilda heard the sound of a car engine, and stepped several more feet away from the edge of the road. The graveled path was plenty far enough from the roadway to be safe, but after an unfortunate incident some months back, being around cars tended to make her skittish.

The vehicle was going considerably faster than it should have on the curved road, and Tilda flipped him a bird as he zoomed past her. She opened her mouth to add a description of his parentage, but it turned into a gasp as the car veered into the other lane and straight at the people walking toward her. There were screams, flying gravel, and a thunk. Then the car swerved back onto the road and sped up as it went past the inn.

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